Recipe: Harvest tower with chive aioli

Recipe courtesy of Alex Chen, partner and chef at Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar in Whistler.

Visit your neighbourhood farmer’s market or grocery store for a fresh selection of local, seasonal vegetables. Look for:

• Baby beets
• Radishes
• Baby lettuce
• Asparagus
• Broccolini
• Baby carrots
• Other favourite or farmer-recommended vegetables (“Baby” or small sizes)

Chive Oil

Ingredients:

1 cup of whole chives

1 cup of avocado oil

1 tablespoon of kosher salt

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Method:

1. Bring 1 liter of water to a rolling boil, add in salt
2. Add in chive to blanch for 20 seconds
3. Strain the water out and let chive sit for 1 minutes
4. Squeeze out the water from the blanched chives
5. In the Vitamix or a blender, add in blanch chives and oil
6. Process until oil becomes very green
7. Strain the oil though a cheese cloth in room temperature

Chive emulsion yields 1 cup of chive oil.

Chive Aioli 

Ingredients:

1 cup of chive oil (above)

2 egg yolks

⅙ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar or lemon juice

½ tsp Dijon mustard

Small dash of Tabasco sauce

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl add in egg yolks, salt, white balsamic vinegar and Dijon
2. Then slowly add chive oil to emulsify
3. Then balance with lemon juice and Tabasco
4. Pour Aioli into small serving bowl

Harvest Tower Arrangement:

1. Wash all vegetables and slice or chop them into desired shapes and individual pieces
2. Place the bowl of aioli in the middle of a serving platter
3. Arrange the vegetables around the aioli
4. Add edible flowers or other decor if you wish
5. Serve and enjoy!